The city says it is quite possible that a piece of concrete fell from the Gardiner Expressway and smashed a woman’s windshield earlier this week.
Ahsen Ali Siddiqi previously told CP24 that his mother’s van was stopped on Lake Shore Boulevard near Spadina Avenue Tuesday at around 5 p.m. when pieces of concrete fell from the Gardiner above and smashed her windshield.
On Friday, Siddiqi told CTV News that his insurance company intends to go directly to the city to collect the deductible.
Stephen Buckley, general manager of Transportation Services for the City of Toronto, said that crews have been out inspecting the site where Siddiqi says the concrete fell. Buckley said that it's possible a chunk of the Gardiner fell on to the car but added that he won't know for sure until they locate the piece of concrete that reportedly caused the damage.
In 2014, there were 13 reports of falling concrete on the Gardiner Expressway, four of which were verified and nine that were found to be false.
So far this year there have been two reports of concrete falling from the highway.
“If one piece of concrete is falling off the Gardiner, let alone two, three or four, it is one too many," Mayor John Tory told reporters after a road closure coordination meeting Friday.
Tory said that discussions are taking place to examine how fast crews are working to fix parts of the expressway and if the work is being done properly to ensure that members of the public are safe.
"You just can’t have pieces of concrete falling off the Gardiner or anywhere else in the city. It is a threat to safety whether it is pedestrians or drivers," he said.
